Cabinet Structure and Fiscal Policy Outcomes

Abstract:     
A central explanation of fiscal performance focuses on the structure of the cabinet. However, the partisan context of cabinet decisions remains underexplored, the findings are based on small samples and the variables of interest are often poorly operationalised. Using a new dataset of spending ministers and partisan fragmentation in the cabinets of 58 countries between 1975 and 1998, I find a strong positive association between the number of spending ministers and budget deficits and expenditures, as well as weaker evidence that these effects increase with partisan fragmentation.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 38

Keywords: Cabinet, Fiscal policy, Political parties

JEL Classification: H11, H61, H62

working papers series